Refining petroleum.



TE AE ASPEN FllilltCE HENRY GEORGES HENNEBUTTE, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

REFINING PETROLEUM.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY- GEORGES HENNEBUTTE, a citizen of the Republic of France, and a resident of Paris, France, have invented certain Improvements in Refining Petroleum, of which the following is a specification.

This invention'relates to certain improvements in refining petroleum, and more particularly to the removal or elimination therefrom of volatile unsaturated hydrocarbons naturally contained therein, for the separation of. which it has heretofore been customary to subject the mass, as a separate or independent step, to the polymerizing influence of sulfuric acid in order to fit the product for utilization as machine and lubricating oil, and the object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved process or method oftreating crude petroleum generally, whereby the undesirable unsaturated constituents may be so modified as to permit their substantially complete removal or separation by simple distillation without recourse to treatment with sulfuric acid as a separate step in the treatment of the oil,

"distillation commences, so as to obtain by partial dehydrogenation or oxidation and at a temperature between 100 and 350 a transformation or conversion of the unsaturated constituents contained in the crude petroleum which have heretofore been separated by treatment with sulfuric acid. Eauch transformation or conversion of the unsaturated hydrocarbon constituents of the crude petroleum, effected by the partial hydrogenating or oxidizing action of the air, results, on the one hand, in the formation from such unsaturated constituents of substances of comparatively high boiling points which cannot be distilled at the tempera tures referred to and on the other hand, in

the formation of unsaturated hydrocarbons which possess much lower boiling points and are therefore capable of being readlly separated from the saturated hydrocarbon con- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 28, 1015..

Application filed November 1, 1910. Serial No. 590,226.

perature at which this treatment of the mass is carried out may with advantage be as far removed from the vaporizing temperature as possible or convenient in order that a maximum conversion of the unsaturated hydrocarbon constituents may be effected by the air with a minimum action in promoting vaporization of the body or" the mass, since if the temperature rises too high the distillation of the mass may result in a certain proportion of the unsaturated hydrocarbons passing over without being acted upon by the air. It will therefore be understood that the temperature at which the treatment of the hydrocarbon is carried out has a considerable range and'should in all cases be dependent upon the constitution of the mass which is being treated. l haveasoertained that the temperature may range between the points stated, viz: 100 to 350 (1, dependent upon the constitution of the mass.

A certain heating effect arises from the treatment of hydrocarbons with air at sufiieiently'high temperatures, due to the oxidizing action of the air, and since this heat tends to raise the temperature of the mass to the boiling point and, if unchecked, would result in raising the contents of the still to a temperature at which free distillation would ensue whereby part of the unsaturated hydrocarbon constituents may pass over into the condenser unchanged by the action of the air, I find it desirable to sup ply the air to the mass in limited or regulated volumes. The volume of air to be sup plied may be conveniently determined by such regulation of the air supply as will prevent too rapid rise of the temperature of the mass and insure against such free distillation as would result in vaporization of the unsaturated hydrocarbons unchanged by the injected air. Where the temperature and volume of the injected air are regulated in this manner, what may be termed a partial dehydrogenation or oxidation of the mass in the still takes place, and is substantially confined in its effect to the unlot saturated hydrocarbon constituents, which are so modified as to be. converted into hydrocarbons of Widely different boiling points which may be readily separated by distillation. Such distillation may be very conveniently effected by gradually increasing the temperature of the mass after the completion of the conversion of the unsaturated constituents thereof, and separately collecting the fractions which pass over at different temperatures, whereby it will be found that the undesirable unsaturated hydrocarbon constituents are separated in a substantially complete manner and if the process is carried out very carefully as regards the introduction of the air, it permits of very considerably reducing the proportion of unsaturated hydrocarbons carried over during the distillation of the 111- bricating and cylinder oils, so that the expense of subsequently refining or rectifying these oils is either reduced or entirely done away with.

By actual tests I have demonstrated that where the hydrocarbon is treated with air prior to distillation according to my invention not only are the machine and cylinder oils, when separated by distillation considerably more viscous than where no air is used, but also that the percentage of unsaturated hydrocarbons required to be separated by such distillation is considerably lessened by the use of my improved process. For example-where a certain mazout treated With steam instead of air, but otherwise according to the conditions requisite for carrying out my invention yielded distillates containing an average proportion of 18% of unsaturated hydrocarbons requiring to be separated from themachine and cylinder oils, when the same mazout was treated according to my present invention, the air supply being limited to about 20 cubic meters per each 100 kilograms of the mass, the proportion of the unsaturated hydrocarbons required to be separated from the machine-and cylinder oils Was reduced to an average of about 7 .5%.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patcut is:

1. The process of manufacturing cylinder oils from mazout rich in unsaturated hydrocarbons, consisting in passing a current of air through the mass to be distilled and then distilling the mass Without subsequent refining.

2. The process of manufacturing cylinder oils from petroleum hydrocarbons, consisting in passing a current of air through the mass to be distilled, and then distilling the mass Without subsequent refining.

3. The process of manufacturing cylinder oils from mazout rich in unsaturated hydrocarbons, consisting in passing a current of air through the mass at such temperature as to cause the conversion of unsaturated hydrocarbons into cylinder oils and separating the cylinder oils.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name this 15th day of October, 1910, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY GEORGES HENNEBUTTE.

Witnesses:

JOHN BAKER, FRANK H. MASON. 

